Shao Wins First ITF Junior Circuit Tournament She Enters at Mexico J5, Five More Doubles Titles for US Juniors Last Week; Grade 1 in Russia Postponed; Hovde Awarded Wild Card at Arcadia $60K; Barry Women Claim D-II Team Indoor Championship

In addition to the boys singles and doubles titles won by American boys Nishesh Basavareddy, Cooper Williams and Aidan Kim at the ITF Grade A in Brazil, six more titles were collected by US juniors last week at lower-level tournaments on the Junior Circuit.

The only other singles title came from the J5 in Mexico, where 14-year-old Claire Shao of New Jersey, playing in her first ITF junior tournament, went through qualifying all the way to the championship. Shao won two matches in qualifying and five in the main draw; even though the tournament featured main draws of 64 players she received a walkover into the final, where she met another 14-year-old American, Cleo Hutchinson. Hutchinson, seeded third, won two J5s last summer in Kenya, so she was the more experienced of the two, but Shao pulled out a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4 victory.

The unseeded team of Ginger Foster and Adla Lopez prevented a Shao sweep, beating the unseeded Shao and Taly Licht 6-3, 6-7(4), 10-4 in the all-American final.

Ari Cotoulas and his partner Rei Sakamoto of Japan, the No. 2 seeds, won the boys doubles title, beating unseeded Santiago Muhala and his partner Gonzalo Zeitune of Argentina 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

At the J5 in Guatemala, the unseeded American team of Vessa Turley and Naomi Widiaman defeated top seeds Deborah Dominguez Collado of Guatemala and Sarah L'Allier of Canada 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 in the championship match in girls doubles. 

Pavan Uppu won his second consecutive doubles title at the J4 in Rwanda, again with partner Seungmin Park Korea. The unseeded pair defeated No. 4 seeds Rayen Hermassi and Skander Mezouar of Tunisia 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 in the final.

And at the J5 in Senegal, Jelani Sarr and partner Thomas Faurel of France won the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating No. 2 seeds Simon Daune of Belgium and Federico Scotuzzi of Italy 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Faurel defeated Sarr in the singles final 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 the next day. 

With the Grade 1 in Russia postponed this week due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the highest level events remaining are Grade 3s in the Netherlands and Mexico. There are 10 US boys and 21 US girls in the 48-player singles draws in Tampico, no Americans are in the draws in the Netherlands.

After three weeks with no USTA Pro Circuit events for women, there is one tournament this week, in Arcadia California, at the $60,000 level. 

Qualifying began today, with the eight spots in the main draw to be filled with those who get a second win Tuesday. 

With BNP Paribas Open women's qualifying beginning next Monday in Indian Wells, there is no shortage of international players in the main draw, with WTA No. 118 Chloe Pacquet of France the top seed and No. 123 Maddison Inglis of Australia the No. 2 seed.

The seeded Americans in the main draw are Katie Volynets[6] and Robin Anderson[7](UCLA). Wild cards were given to Australian Open girls semifinalist Liv Hovde, Elvina Kalieva, Duke recruit Katie Codd and Raveena Kingsley. Kalieva will face Inglis in the first round, with Hovde drawing No. 3 seed Harriet Dart of Great Britain.

Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic used the ITF's Junior Exemption procedure for her main draw entry.

There are no USTA men's Pro Circuit tournaments this week.

2022 Women's Division II Team Indoor Champions Barry
photo courtesy ITA

A week after Barry's men's team won their ITA Division II Indoor Championship, the women's program has followed suit. The top-ranked Buccaneers defeated No. 3 seed Central Oklahoma in today's Team Indoor final in Edmond Oklahoma 4-0. After not participating in the event last year, Barry took back the title they won in the inaugural tournament in 2020. The box score can be found in this article from the Barry website.

There is just one more ITA Team Indoor Championships to be decided this year, with the Women's Division III tournament scheduled to begin Friday at the Top Seed Tennis Club in Nicholasville Kentucky.